Executive summary
This paper is aimed at promoting discussion on the development of an energy security strategy. It is a made-in-Alberta initiative, in partnership with Canadians from energy producing and energy consuming regions.
In October 2005, the University of Alberta’s Parkland Institute hosted an energy visioning session in Calgary, which was attended by individuals and representatives of organizations from across Canada. Many of the ideas informing this Paper were discussed at the Calgary session, and Parkland has also received significant input since then.
This paper is intended to take the discussion to the next stage. It sets out the context for an energy security strategy, and then provides principles to guide it. The next stage of this project will expand on the principles, setting out specific policy proposals to ensure that Canada’s limited energy resources support the public interest and our distinct Canadian values.
Diana Gibson
Diana Gibson has worked nationally and internationally on economic and public policy issues ranging from health care to energy and trade policy. She has over 25 years of experience in social policy research and has been on faculty with Capilano College and was research director of Parkland Institute. She has authored and co-authored many publications on inequality, tax reform, and energy issues at the provincial, territorial and national levels. She is the executive director of the Community Social Planning Council of Greater Victoria, a co-founder and former CEO of The Firelight Group Research Cooperative, a director of PolicyLink Research and Consulting, a co-founding director of the Canadians For Tax Fairness as well as a research associate of the Canadian Centre For Policy Alternatives, and a distinguished research fellow with Parkland Institute.
David Thompson
David Thompson is a consultant with over 20 years experience in environmental and energy issues, public policy, and project management. He has worked for aboriginal organizations, university research institutes, non-profit organizations, businesses, labour organizations, and governments.
Gordon Laxer
Gordon Laxer, PhD, is the founding Director and former head of Parkland Institute (1996-2011). He is a Political Economist and professor emeritus at the University of Alberta, and is the author or editor of five books, including Open for Business: The Roots of Foreign Ownership in Canada, which in 1991 received the John Porter Award for best book written about Canada. Gordon was the Principal Investigator of the $1.9 million research project, Neoliberal Globalism and its Challengers: Reclaiming the Commons in the Semi-periphery (2000-2006). He is the author of After the Sands: Energy and Ecological Security for Canadians, which was nominated for the 2016 John W. Dafoe prize in non-fiction books.
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